Azimo nabs €20m funding from European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has funded money transfer service Azimo with a €20 million debt agreement supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
Michael Kent, Azimo founder
The loan will be used by Azimo to support its expansion plans, which will include the development of its automated payments platform. The firm will also increase staff numbers at its Kraków HQ.
Michael Kent, founder and chairman of Azimo, says that the firm is excited to have the EIB’s support.
He adds: “While Europe is the largest international payments market in the world, it is poorly served by legacy providers, so slow delivery times and very high costs are the norm for European consumers and businesses.
“We are building a European payments champion with near-instant delivery at super low cost.”
Azimo appointed a new chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO) in late January. Tatiana Okhotina, who joined Azimo as head of finance in June 2014, stepped into the CFO role, replacing Jakob Wrulich, who had been at the helm for five and a half years.
Dora Ziambra was appointed the firm’s new COO. She moved into a role which had been left vacant since former COO Richard Ambrose became CEO in July 2019.
Related: European Banking Authority publishes sustainable finance action plan
The EIB is Europe’s non-profit long-term lending institution for regional development. It was established in 1958 with EU member states taking up shareholding roles.
It announced a joint €75 million equity investment fund for “blue economy” companies at the start of the month, working alongside the European Commission.
EU member states have agreed to make up the €40 billion capital shortfall which will occur when the United Kingdom leaves the bloc at the conclusion of the Brexit transition period.
On the Azimo investment Lilyana Pavlova, EIB vice president for Poland, says that companies making money transfers easy, safe, and affordable are “game changers”.
